In the words of Sergio Romo, “That’s what’s up!”  That game today was amazing!  Pure joy!  My boys were acting like the boys that I know and love.  So many positives from today’s game.  Shall I list them?  I think I shall!:

–          They won 8 – 2 vs. the second place team in the division.  WHAT???

–          They took the series (2 games to 1) from the D-Bags.  Did I mention they’re the second place team in the division?

–          Yusmeiro Petit is a badass!  He came in to cover for the injured Matt Cain, and he’s proven himself worthy of a permanent place on the team.  In his last game vs. the Rockies, he pitched 6 innings, gave up 2 runs on 6 hits with 6 strikeouts.  Today vs. the D-Bags, he again pitched 6 innings, gave up 2 runs on 7 hits with 10 strikeouts!  And both those parks are known as hitters’ parks.  Where has this guy been??  Wondering if once Matt comes back he’ll keep a spot in the rotation.  He sure has earned it.

–          The bullpen combination of Mijares, Casilla, and Kickham was stellar – allowing only 2 hits in 3 innings and no runs.  I have to admit I was a bit concerned when Kickham came in, but I’m so glad the guy had an excellent performance with all the struggles he’s had in the big leagues.  Way to go, Mike!

–          The boys finally played Giants baseball.  They had several hitting rallies to bring guys in.  All of the starting players (except for Brett Pill) got at least one hit, including Petit with his RBI single!  Buster went 3 for 5, Hunter went 3 for 4 (including a homerun – those are always nice!), Pablo went 2 for 4, and Hector Sanchez went 2 for 4 with a well-timed 2 RBI double in the 4^th inning with 2 outs.  My boys were 5 for 14 with runners in scoring position.  Sweet!

–          Tony Abreu recovered from being caught stealing by turning an amazing double play while on his butt.

–          Marco had a sweet moment.  While Tony Abreu was batting, Marco took a large lead off second base.  As soon as the catcher, Montero, started to throw the ball to second to pick him off, he took off for 3^rd and made it.  Montero gave him a look like, “I see what you just did!”  Marco plays a really intelligent game, and I love when he does stuff like that.

–          Last, but definitely not least – HAPPY FLIGHT!!

Another positive came from not a player but a Giants fan.  One of the D-Bags players flipped a ball to a kid in the stands, and another kid standing right next to him was extremely disappointed and started to cry.  A kid who happened to be a Giants fan went over and gave the kid his ball.  What a doll!  Kruk and Kuip were so impressed with the kid that they had a ball delivered to him.  Way to represent us Giants fans, super awesome kid!

The September call-ups started today.  Rosters can now expand from 25 guys to 40 guys.  The Giants only added Tony Abreu today (who came off the DL).  The other minor leaguers haven’t finished their season yet, but expect to see lots of kids come up on Tuesday.  It’s always fun to get a preview of the stars of tomorrow – they all must be so excited.

I learned another scoring abbreviation at one of the Pirates games I went to.  It’s CS.  Any guesses?  I’ll give you a sec…..  Give up?  Nick and Paul, did you know?  It stands for “caught stealing.”  I had never seen this on the scoreboard before and asked the guy next to me what it meant.  So now we know!  Thanks, random guy that sat next to me at the Pirates game!

Here’s a new spit count for you:

August 31^st

Giants:

–          Sandoval 10

–          Belt 7

–          Pagan 7

–          Posey 6

–          Scutaro 2

–          Rosario 2

–          Vogelsong 1

–          Bochy 1

–          Lincecum 1

–          Lopez 1

Diamondbacks:

–          Hill 6

–          Gibson 3

–          Montero 3

–          Sax 3

–          Eaton 2

–          Prado 2

–          Cahill 1

–          The Goldschmidt 1

Game Spit Master General = Sandoval at 10

That’s a total of 59 spits during a 3 hour and 10 minute game for an average of 1 spit every 3.2 minutes.

Cheers to both starting pitchers Ryan Vogelsong and Trevor Cahill for only logging a single spit each during this game and jeers to Tim Lincecum for yet again getting caught spitting even though he wasn’t in the game.  In fact, Timmy got caught the only time the camera was on him during the game.  Boo!

My boys are off to San Diego, Bochy’s hometown, to take on the Fathers.  It’s the battle of the last place teams.  We’re only 1 game ahead of the Padres, so we’ve got to make these count.  I’m a bit concerned as Barry is pitching tomorrow and he has yet to log an away win this season.  Come on, Barry!  You can do it!  Go out in style!  The new goal I’m setting for you guys is simply not to end up in last place.  That’s all I ask.  And actually, Rich Aurilia mentioned in the post game today that he thought we could probably even catch the Rockies.  We’re only 4 games behind them.  We can do it!  Yes we can!  Get the sweep, Boys!  GO GIANTS!